Top scientists express safety concerns over Kudankulam nuclear plant

Mangaloretoday/NDTV

New Delhi, May 14: Sixty of the country’s leading scientists have written to chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, expressing safety concerns over the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant which received the Supreme Court’s nod earlier this month. The scientists, most of who aren’t specialists in nuclear energy, have sought a safety review of the plant by an "independent panel" of experts.

 

The top court had declared that all expert bodies were of the unanimous opinion that adequate safety measures had been taken at the plant situated in Tamil Nadu.

But the scientists, in their three-page petition, have expressed doubts "particularly with reference to possible sub-standard components" that were supplied to the plant. Recently, four faulty valves were detected in the first reactor unit of the plant; they were later replaced. Some Russian officials had also been arrested recently over alleged corruption in sourcing sub-standard materials from some Russian nuclear plants.

"Any exercise to assure oneself of the quality of components used will have to be done before the plant is commissioned. Once commissioned, the radioactive environment in sections of the plant will make it impossible to access and test some potentially-critical components," the petition said. (Read petition)

The twin, 1000-MW Russian-made atomic reactors have been made at a cost of Rs. 15,000 crore and the first unit is expected to be commissioned soon after the plant got a thumbs-up from the Supreme Court on May 6.

The scientists, though, made it explicitly clear that they were not "advocating for or against nuclear energy". While some of the petitioners, they said, consider nuclear energy a "legitimate" option, other signatories believe it is "too risky".

The petitioners include scientists from premier institutions like the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).